Fransa'da Yaşayan Göçmen Gençlerin Gözünden: İstanbul (≈Istanbul Through the Eyes of Young Migrants Living in France)
Artists: Filiz Doğan, Yeliz Doğan, Onur Güçlüer, Elif Halisçelik, Gamze Kurt
Editors: Zeynep Saygı, Nurdane Bourcier, Refik Akyüz
Texts: ACORT&GAPO, Gamze Kurt
Design: Serdar Darendeliler
Number of pages: 48
Print and binding: Ofset Yapımevi, Istanbul
Date of publication: January 2010
Published for the concluding exhibition of 'Jeune Découverte Photo', an educational and production programme organised in collaboration between the Assembly of Turkish Citizens (ACORT) and Geniş Açı Project Office (GAPO) as part of the “Season of Turkey in France”, this catalogue presents the photographic work produced during a ten-day journey through Istanbul by five young people of Turkish origin who were born in France or moved there at a very young age. It also includes a text by one of the five participants, Gamze Kurt, reflecting on and summarising this experience. The concluding exhibition was held at the Town Hall of the 11th Arrondissement of Paris from 5 to 18 February 2010.
Following a short introductory photography course and an examination of examples of contemporary photography, the five young participants set out on their journey, where the image of a magical Istanbul they had inherited confronted the reality of the city’s streets. Over the course of ten days, they visited very different parts of this multilayered city—including Maslak, Tarlabaşı, Nişantaşı, Kanarya, Arnavutköy, Balat, and the Princes’ Islands—in an effort to move beyond the tourist image of Istanbul that had remained in their minds from visits with their families or from other sources. In these places, they witnessed the city’s deep-rooted history, its modern face reflecting the present day, its organically developed urban fabric shaped after the 1950s, and the changes of recent years variously described as urban renewal or gentrification. They also met with experts to discuss issues including the refugee question, freedom of expression, and Istanbul’s Byzantine and Ottoman past, while attempting to develop an understanding of Türkiye and Istanbul of their own, independent of the image of the country and the city held by their families.
“Most of us came to know this constantly moving city during holidays spent with our families, through its food, smells, streets, and people. When we returned to Istanbul for a photography project, we carried images in our minds that had little or nothing to do with reality. We saw the camera as a tool that would allow us to establish relationships with people in the streets. In other words, we were in much the same position as someone who knew nothing about Istanbul.
Yet when we left the city, we left behind a completely different Istanbul, still filled with magic and passion.
The magic came from the rhythm of the city, which could be exhausting. Everyone and everything seemed to be part of a dance that would never end, a constantly repeated halay... As the dancers changed places, so did the colours of the streets.
The passion came from the city’s dynamism. The transformation to which Istanbul was subjected affected the daily lives of its inhabitants from one moment to the next.
Perhaps the main theme of this journey was the contradictions within the city. But as the child of a Turkish immigrant family living in France, born and raised in France myself, I can say that we young people of migrant origin also carry many contradictions within us.
Now, when I look at Istanbul from Paris, it is still an extraordinarily magical city... But the realities that make Istanbul what it is are also those that cannot be seen from here.”
(Translation of the excerpt from the text written by Gamze Kurt for the catalogue)